Stela Mótgørð

Was Dual Boxing last night and on one of the toons I was minding my own business in a quiet little system mining away when I noticed someone go Suspect in system. I had noticed a Vargur and a MTU on D-scan so thought maybe the blinky fella was going after the MTU but it wasn’t long before the blinky fella landed at the belt I was mining in piloting a Venutre.

I was jet-can mining and had two cans out already so pulled what I could back into my Ore Hold and just waited to see what he was up to and my suspicion was warranted as he closed distance quickly and looted what he could from my remaining can. I had some drones out but no way to hold him down so just bailed back to a Station and swapped into a mining vessel with a larger Ore Hold with the plan being to just ignore him.

I undocked and warped to a different belt and went back to the mining business but again it wasn’t long before the fella was landing on grid and this time not seeing anything to steal he started bumping me off my rock and messing up my range. It was not a huge ordeal but definitely a hindrance and it got me to thinking what it would take to make it less so.

Here’s what I came up with…

[Dramiel, Miss Deterrence]
Internal Force Field Array I
Overdrive Injector System II
Gyrostabilizer II

1MN Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

200mm AutoCannon II, Hail S
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket
200mm AutoCannon II, Hail S

Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

Acolyte II x3

She’ll need the dual Scram to hold the Venture down in case it has a Stab fitted and will be plenty of ship to take out a Suspect Venture. Will get one fitted out and staged in the area ready to take on that blinky fella should he choose to come back and pester me again.

– – –

Fjúka Hœttr!

Virðing,
Kalam

Kynligr Leika

The past few days have been busy in RL but I was able to get on for some EVE in short spurts. Highlight of the weekend was the Svipul Birthday roam we went out for – I managed to lose two Svipuls but had a ton of fun in the process!

Another Wardec has curtailed the High-Sec exploration so instead I’ve been spending time protecting miners and curing my Malady of the MTU.

Slowly grinding out some Drone skills, another week or so and I’ll be able to switch things up again and get working towards some more hulls to fly.

Not sure how busy this next week is going to be but hopefully I’ll be a bit more active… we’ll see?

– – –

Fjúka Hœttr!

Virðing,
Kalam

Urðr Kista

Scanning down Mobile Tractor Units has become a go to activity when I’ve got some time to kill in New Eden.

I go about finding MTUs by first locating them on D-scan at max range then pin-pointing their range from me by decreasing the range of D-scan in small increments. Finding the approximate range of the MTU helps a ton, you can focus your probes on unknown structures that are at that range making scanning much quicker. One condition I place upon myself with this ‘Malady of the MTU’ is that I’ll not shoot one if the owner is in system which at times means that none of the MTUs I’ve found are fair game for me.

I spent some time scanning down MTUs the other night, there’s a little pocket of Systems near Hek (Barkrik, Lanngisi, Nakugard and Tvink) that are a hive of Level 4 Security missions, and I managed to scan down a number of MTUs in a very short time.

Unfortunately with all but one the owners were in system… but oh boy that one was juicy! I had cargo scanned it and it looked full but I didn’t take a really good look at what was inside it as the owner wasn’t in system so I wanted to get at it quickly. I warped back to Hek and re-shipped into the Hound then warped straight back to the MTU. It popped quickly and then when I went to loot the wreck I really noticed how insane the loot was – Yvelino ACHILLE (Mobile Tractor Unit). There was such a mishmash of stuff in there, it makes no sense for there to be a Pith X-Type X-Large Shield Booster, True Sansha Capacitor Power Relays and Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizers all scooped from the same mission so my only guess is that Yvelino ACHILLE was possibly using his MTU as a Mobile Depot??? I truly have no idea and at the end of the day am not too concerned with the ‘why’ – it was a score and I’ll take it although I don’t think Yvelino is quite as excited as I am.

Sadly, for all those missioners anyways, a score like this has only seated my Malady of the MTU even deeper.

 

– – –

Fjúka Hœttr!

Virðing,
Kalam

 

 

Ráða – Operation Glita Reiði

I was out searching for some stray MTU’s last night and a thought occurred to me ~ “Why not set up one as bait?” ~ I’m sure I’m not the first Capsuleer to come up with this idea but maybe I’ll be the first to blog about it?

The plan is pretty simple. I’m going to get a MTU, grab some of the odd and ends loot that I’ve squirreled away to put in it and place it out in space then sit and wait. I think in a higher traffic system like Hek or one of the nearby systems where Level 4 Missions are regularly run this tactic will work well.

As you can cargo scan MTU’s adding a shiny Faction or Storyline module to really spice up the bait may be an option as well but that will depend on whether I’ve got any mates on board to assist with Operation Glita Reiði.

 

So fair warning… if you see a MTU belonging to me in Hek or one of the nearby system and decided to shoot it – it may be a trap and there may be abrupt repercussions.

 

– – –

Fjúka Hœttr!

Virðing,
Kalam

Fleiri Dráp Kvilla

The Mobile Tractor Unit (or MTU) – I’ve used them, they are handy for cleaning up big missions, but it was seeing one show up on zKillboard that drew my attention this weekend – I mean I guess I knew you could shoot them but I didn’t really understand the mechanics of it or if you could find them until I did a bit of research.

• Attack mechanic: Attacking the structure will give a suspect flag to the attacker only. That means anyone can attack them and does not risk being punished by Concord for doing so in high sec systems.
• Signature and Sensor strength: Mobile Tractor Units can be probed down.

Which has resulted in a whole new sickness… the “Malady of the MTU”

It took hold a few times this weekend:

• MTU #1
• MTU #2
• MTU #3
• MTU #4

The way I figure it is that if you’ve left your poor MTU out in space all unattended the least I can do is clean it up for you.

I had reinforced and then blew up a couple of  Mobile Depot’s in Low Sec awhile back without really knowing what was going to happen but as  I was checking into MTU’s I also looked into the mechanics of Mobile Depot’s:

• Attack mechanic: Any pilot can attack this structure thus gaining a suspect flag only. The pilot can damage it until it has 25% shields left, then the mobile home enters a 48 hour reinforcement mode where it can’t be damaged. If the structure leaves reinforced mode with 0 shields after 48 hours, the armor and structure HP become vulnerable. If then attacked the structure can be blown up and will drop a loot container of random contents. If the structure manages to go up to 25% shields after coming out of reinforcement mode it enters its original state and can only be reinforced again but not destroyed.
• Warning: It’s worth remembering that if a Mobile Depot is attacked in a high sec system, the attacker will NOT be punished by Concord! He will only receive a suspect flag.
• Signature and Sensor strength: Mobile Depots can be probed down.

They’re definitely a bit harder to take down with the reinforcement mode and the 48 hour timer. The two I took out didn’t drop anything but I’ll be keeping my eye out for them as well, you just never know what you might get in one.

• Mobile Depot #1
• Mobile Depot #2

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season!

 

– – –

Fjúka Hœttr!

Virðing,
Kalam